Absolute Truth of Doing Less for Success! 10/8/14 - 1940.1 to 1948.8 miles

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Virtual Hike Animated Street View The route continues to follow route 12 along the Clearwater River.   There are more trees along this section and it should be easy to find a place to stealth camp.  There are several rest areas which would be good places to meet people.

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Walk in the Prairie

My son and I took a walk in the prairie yesterday afternoon. The grass was green just a few weeks ago, and now it is brown and dry. 

The leaves on the trees along the Fountain Creek are starting to change.

Walking on the dirt felt like walking on foam rubber compared to walking on energy returning pavement.

The Red Button

I met Warren in 1994. Warren was about 70 then and he liked to tell stories. He spent his working life in a power plant in Pueblo, Colorado. It was old when he started working there.

One day, he told me about the "Red Button." There was a red button on the coal hopper with a sign that said, "Push Hourly or the Hopper will Explode!" 

A group of engineers from Denver came to examine the plant. It was running efficiently, and they wanted to build one like it. 

One of the engineers asked Warren what the red button did. He said, "Oh, that's a joke we play on the new guys. It keeps them from sleeping at night."

The engineers didn't believe him and emptied the coal hopper to discover the secret to the Red Button. The secret was the Red Button didn't do anything.

They reproduced the power plant in Denver right to the finest detail, including the Red Button.

The moral of the story is to examine your process and eliminate Red Buttons. If an activity doesn't take you towards your vision, don't do it. 

Now that it has a name, you will be able to eliminate the Red Buttons in your life and learn "The Absolute Truth of Doing Less for Success!"

The 12 mile walk yesterday was easy. I spent two weeks worrying about the two twelve mile days, and they turned out to be nothing. I need to focus on the present and let the future take care of itself.

Something happens to people on long trails after a couple thousand miles. The hike becomes a conduit for self-examination. They learn the red buttons are not important and they learn to streamline their life.